2018 French Open: Shock as Serena withdraws with shoulder injury

Well, this changes everything.

It was the match everyone had been waiting for but instead, all we got was a breaking news flash to announce that Serena Williams had withdrawn with a shoulder injury just minutes before her scheduled fourth-round showdown against longtime rival Maria Sharapova.

It is a huge blow for the 23-time Grand Slam champion whose Wimbledon participation is in serious doubt with less than four weeks to go.

The 36-year-old said she had suffered a pectoral muscle injury in her third-round win over Julia Goerges on Saturday and “can’t serve at all”.

She added that she would stay in Paris for scans on the injury to find out how long she will be out of action.

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“I, unfortunately, have been having some issue with my pec [pectoral] muscle,” she told reporters in an impromptu press conference.

“Right now I can’t actually serve, so it’s hard to play. I can’t physically serve. It’s very difficult because I love playing Maria. Her game matches so well against mine.”

Williams said efforts to strap her shoulder to protect the muscle made little impact during her double defeat alongside sister Venus on Sunday.

She insisted the injury had only surfaced in the last 48 hours.

It didn’t start before I got here. It was really painful and I didn’t know what it was. I’m going to get an MRI tomorrow, I’ll stay here and see some doctors here, but I won’t know about [Wimbledon] before that.

Serena struggled to hide her disappointment considering all the sacrifice it required to be at Roland Garros.

I’m beyond disappointed. I gave up so much – time with my daughter, time with my family, I put everything on the court all for this moment. So it’s really difficult to be in the situation. [But] I try to think positive and think of the bigger picture, the next events and the rest of the year.

Today’s highly-anticipated fourth-round match again Sharapova promised so much given the build-up to Monday afternoon’s clash.

The Russian, who last beat Williams 14 years ago when she won Wimbledon as a 17-year-old, was desperate to end a miserable 18-match losing streak.

She will now face the winner of the match between Gabrine Muguruza and Lesia Tsurenko in the last-eight.